Good morning to you. While I’m off traipsing about the Illinois Library Association conference in bee-auteous Tinley, IL, why don’t you settle down for an informal smattering of Fusenews. Good for what ails ya. ok, let’s talk about Dr. Seuss says Grace Lin. Ms. Lin faced the full wrath of the masses when she […]

Happy Day Before the Eclipse! We’ve a couple interesting videos to peruse today, so take your pick! First off, two recent ones from the live feed show I do with the Abraham Lincoln Bookshop. The first is a bit of an aberration since it involves me being interviewed, not the other way around. The lure? […]

Steve Sheinkin is back with his beloved series! If you’re unfamiliar with it, Steve has a conversation with an author of books for kids or teens and then plucks from it the best parts. So in spite of the fact that he has a brand new book out in early 2017 (Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and […]

You know that nightmare you have where you’re up on a stage and you suddenly realize you have to give a TED talk but you have absolutely no idea what the subject is and you’re pretty sure you don’t have the little remote that’ll allow you to flip between slides anyway? That one? You don’t […]

Fun stuff. Looks a lot like Harry Potter to a certain extent (mood, lighting, music, etc.). It’s the trailer for Roald Dahl’s The BFG. Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the link! A bit of an older video here. In my travels recently I discovered that the entirety of the Oliver Jeffers short film version […]

Starry River of the Sky By Grace Lin Little, Brown and Company $17.99 ISBN: 978-0-316-12595-6 Ages 9-12 On shelves October 2, 2012 I remember when Grace Lin first started writing chapter books for kids. She’d been doing picture books (mostly for others) for years and when at last she started creating small semi-fictionalized memoirs based […]

#72 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (2009) 27 points The first book that I’ve read in ages that I know I’ll read again and again. Simply lovely. – Pam Coughlan The individual episodes are lovely in themselves, and it’s marvelous to watch them all come together. And I have to admit, […]

The last time I did a Fusenews was more than a week ago. As such my links all seem a bit out of date. Ah well. Let’s have fun with a partially abbreviated Fusenews today then. However, to begin . . . Sometimes it feels like we always lose some of the best ones at […]

Previews, previews! Lovely little previews! And we find ourselves back at the Yale Club, across the street from Grand Central Station, and a whopping 10 minutes away, on foot, from my library. There are advantages to living on a tiny island, I tell ya. As per usual, Little Brown pulled out all the stops for […]

As far as I’m concerned, every good blog post should begin with fiction starring Gregory Peck. What we have here is one of the luscious finds boasted by Greg Hatcher over at the site Comic Book Resources. I’m a big fan of Hatcher because when he does round ups like this one he always takes […]

I’m still wrestling with this new blog format. I worry that a lot of you are checking the old links or the old RSS feeds and are simply under the impression that I’m not updating anymore. Aside from Facebook, Twitter, and various Group updates (social networking has never been so useful) I’m not sure how […]

Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same By Grace Lin Little Brown & Company $14.99 ISBN: 978-0-316-02452-5 Ages 5-8 On shelves July 1, 2010 If you want to gauge the merit of a children’s author it’s easy as pie. Simply hand them a piece of paper and a pencil. Sit them down in a comfortable […]

Podcasty Goodness

About A Fuse #8 Production

Features everything from librarian previews of upcoming children's books to news, reviews, and videos. If it has something to do with children's literature, it will rate a mention here.

Betsy Bird is the Youth Materials Specialist of New York Public Library. She's reviewed for The New York Times and Kirkus, writes articles for Horn Book and SLJ, and wrote the picture book Giant Dance Party. You can contact her at Fusenumber8@gmail.com or follow her on . . .